Māori Academic Professional Advancement

I was honoured to be a guest speaker at the Māori Academic Professional Advancement Luncheon, hosted by Manu Ao and Tū Mai Paerua on Friday 4 December. This was an occasion to celebrate and promote Māori academic professional advancement.

In his opening mihi, Tā Tipene O’Regan celebrated that there are more than 500 Maori PhD’s in the country. In a cautionary note he added that the majority of these are people in their 50s or older. It is imperative that we promote and support young Maori in their study and encourage them to take advantage of the various funding sources for which they are eligible.

Associate Professor Rawiri Taonui, and Professor Angus Hikairo MacFarlane from the University of Canterbury spoke about government strategies, the challenges faced by Maori academics, performance-based research funding, and the links between Mātauranga Māori and western research concepts. As she shared her journey, Dr Mere Skerrett from the University of Canterbury drew links between her carving and weaving heritage and its influence on the major role she has played in Te Kōhanga Reo. It was a great pleasure to speak about Ako Aotearoa and explore ways in which we can support and work with Māori.

Each speaker was given a taonga to represent their particular iwi. The image shows Angus MacFarlane and myself with our taonga. I am delighted that my taonga represents Te Waipounamu.